


Overgrowth

by LunaD11



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Human Trafficking, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Minor Character Death, Worried Jack, brief Maddie Webber, some sweet moments between Jack and Riley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-04 03:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12762498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaD11/pseuds/LunaD11
Summary: Inspired by the unaired pilot. Mac and the team infiltrate a business called Overgrowth, an organization that helps provide agricultural support worldwide. Unfortunately, this non-profit organization is also a cover for human trafficking, shipping out people for forced labor in Zimbabwe, Cuba, and Syria. While learning the truth behind the organization, Mac is captured. The team struggles to get to Mac first before he's shipped overseas, disappearing forever.Update 12/16: Chapters back to updating every Saturday.





	1. Kale Juice

The two Phoenix agents walk up the stairs and into the swiveling doors of the research center, the younger one slightly in front of the other. He stops a few steps into the building and buttons his suit, saying to himself, “Something definitely feels off about this place.”

The building made up of almost entirely all windows, presenting itself with full transparency. A long staircase sits in the middle of the lobby leading to a set of elevators. At either side of the elevators are hallways, each leading to a door to what Mac can only guess are the lower offices.  Several tables with white leather chairs are littered throughout the ground floor, which consisted of light grey tiles. A splash of color caught Mac’s eye every now and then as he noticed hanging plants on far walls and potted ones in the corners. A juice bar was to his right, containing a smiling barista giving out free samples of freshly blended kale.

The second agent, Jack, stops to the younger’s left and states, “Sure it’s not just the kale juice Mac?”

A voice comes through both agent’s ears over their communicators. “You both could just be biased, for all we know Overgrowth could just be a global agricultural research center.”

“Riley you suppose it’s also a coincidence that wherever they do business, people go missing?” Mac remarks as he adjusts his glasses.

“Well we’ll find out either way.” Jack interjects.

Riley changes the subject. “Alright Mac, each room has a locked encoder on them. It’ll be safer if you can snag a card from an employee than have me to hack into each one. If they figure out someone is hacking into their system it could cause them to wipe the server.”

“That’s why we have to transmit the files directly with your little doohickey,” Jack adds.

“Exactly.”

After taking a moment to scan the crowd, Mac decides it would be better for him to target an employee who is leaving rather than coming into work, allowing more time before they realize their key is missing. He catches Jack’s gaze and nods, prompting Jack to confront the guards.

In a heavy southern drawl Jack begins, “Excuse me there sirs, I need to talk to whoever is in charge at this here establishment. Your agricultural business is impeding on my farming company. It’s been in my family for generations and I won’t let some rinky dink fancy business take it over!”

The two guards look at each other briefly before walking towards Jack, who has started repeating his statement at a much larger volume.

Jack, now having the full attention of security, allows Mac to easily swipe a pass from a nearby employee and slip through the checkpoint. As Mac hastily walks up the stairs, he looks back in time to see one of the guards say, “Sir this is a non-for profit overseas research center.” After which Jack puts his hands up and says, “Oh, you know what- that’s my bad there. Sorry to cause a fuss boys, my misunderstanding,” before walking back towards the exit.

“A little dramatic don’t you think Jack?” Mac teases as he walks into the elevator.

“Hey now, everyone loves a little drama,” Jack looks out the lobby windows at Riley’s van. “It’s all up to you now kid. Be careful.”

Mac follows the crowd off the elevator a few floors up.

“Hey Riley,” Mac whispers as he walks down the halls, “can you tell me exactly what I’m looking for?”

He ducks into each doorway, peering into the rooms as he passes. There’s several labs decked out in personal stations with identical equipment and computers with employees working diligently. He passes by a few meeting rooms, some which are occupied, and even a community research library.

As Mac makes it to the end of the hall, only thing left being the stairwell exit, Riley responds. “I don’t think there’ll be any sensitive information on these lower floors Mac. You’re going to have to get to an upper level.”

Mac turns back, opting for the elevator over the stairwell. The doors could have more security since they lead in straight from outside. Mac enters the back of the elevator with two others, keeping his head down as he waits for them to exit. Both times Mac entered the elevator, none of the employees stayed on past floor six. After Mac is alone in the elevator he walks up to the floor panel.

“There’s only eight floors Riley. Think the seventh level will be high enough?” Riley began to reply as a red error light blinked on next to the card reader in the elevator.

“If you can get there yeah. The seventh floor looks like private offices, and the eighth looks like it holds the CEO’s office. Well...as well as his secretary’s and a few board rooms.” Mac quickly slid his card through the slot and reselected the seventh floor as Riley explained. “The only reason you’d need to get up there Mac is if the offices below it don’t have access to those files or if the CEO’s network is on a private server.”

Outside the building Jack reaches their van, opening the back door and setting up next to Riley. “Well let’s pray it isn’t because I don’t like the idea of you heading up there alone Mac. Even if you can improvise your way there, you’ve got no backup.”

“Jack’s right Mac, at the very least his office is likely guarded and inaccessible without his key card.” Riley added.

“I’m sure I could manage something.” Mac said, smiling to himself.

“I’m sure you could Mac but now is not the time to gamble, if they make you they could trash all their files before we get what we need.” Jack replied sternly.

“And even if you did somehow get into his office without anyone knowing _and_ somehow hooked me into his computer, there’s no guarantee that I’d be able to hack his password and transfer his files before you’re found out.”

Mac pursed his lips as he got off the elevator.

The entire floor was made up of three separate rooms. The far left and right were small office cubicles, while the middle was a larger room full of computers sectioned off in groups. A few employees shuffled around the rooms, but the for the majority the middle room was empty. Mac decided on this room and swiped his key card, allowing entrance.

“Now let's see exactly what sort of business you guys run.” Mac settles at one of the computers, pulling up files from the server. He finds several project files for overseas agricultural development. “There’s research and agriculture kits being shipped all over the world.” Mac adjusts his glasses, “Riley are you getting this?”

Back in the squad van Riley is typing away on her laptop, her screen mirroring the lense camera view hidden in MacGyver’s glasses. “Yes I am. Plug in the receiver I gave you so I can dig for hidden files. The receiver has a code that will run automatically once you plug it in, masking my signal. If it works like I intended for it to, they won't even know I was there.”

“Wait, that’s not right.” Mac squints at the screen, puzzled, before opening a few logbooks.

Jack leans in next to Riley, watching the screen. “Whaddya find Mac?”

“It says here they’ve shipped containers to several locations in Asia. Riley what are these coordinates?”

“They’re not even real coordinates,” Riley states, “but…the coordinates correspond to other information embedded in the logs. They’re protected but I’ve hacked a few of them already. It looks like they’re shipping numbers, locations, and dates for departure, arrival...”

“Does it say for where exactly Ri?” Jack interjects.

“It says they’re arriving in the middle east, primarily Syria.”

“That can’t be right. Syria’s trade is currently closed because of recent attacks.”

Riley hacks into their server, downloading several files immediately as Mac inserts the drive. “Whatever they have going on, they’re trying real hard to keep it under the radar. I might need a while to go through all of this.”

After a moment Jack pipes up, “How long do you need to download those files Riley? We haven’t run into any trouble yet but that’s makin’ my skin crawl.” He glances at the guards near the stairs with his binoculars, for a moment planning out how he would get past everyone in such an open area without attracting attention if, God forbid, something should happen.

“Like five minutes tops.”

“Think you can stay out of trouble that long Mac?”

Mac smirks, “I’m sure I can take care of myself for five more minutes.”

“Whoa, hey Mac the receiver's signal just cut out.” Riley

“Macaroo, you there buddy?” After a moment Jack adds, “Riley check his view.”

Riley switches windows, Mac’s glasses reveal him walking hastily back into the elevator. As he turns around to face the doors of the elevator Jack and Riley are met with the sight of two men holding Mac at gunpoint.

“Aw shit Mac.” Jack leans back in his chair, still watching the screen intently.

The men silently lead Mac up into the CEO’s office on the eighth floor. They force Mac into a seat in front of the boss’ desk before tying his wrists to it. Mac looks back just far enough to see one of the guards stop, guarding the door, as the second walks into a nearby board room and whispers into one of the man’s ears. He hands him the flash drive Mac was carrying and the man stands, excusing himself from the meeting.

Mac’s head whips back around at the sound of Jack’s voice, “Mac, don’t suppose you could shimmy yourself out of those ropes and use them to climb out the window and down a floor?”

“Afraid not Jack. Had to leave my pocket knife so I could get through the metal detectors in the lobby.”

“Well, guess we’ll have to cause you a distraction so you can get out,” Jack states as he cocks his gun.

Mac studies the office, looking for anything he can use. He spies several photos lining the walls containing what looks to be the CEO in various countries surrounded by happy villagers posed with Overgrowth agriculture starter kits.

“Hold on a second Jack, from what I saw in their files, they primarily deal with debt trafficking. Villages trading humans in exchange for their product. I could try and sell myself as a competitor to save my cover.”

“Mac, no. It’s too dangerous, we need to pull you out-”

“They think I’m working alone Jack, since they don’t know how much I saw they’ll have to get rid of me. We could potentially figure out where they’re trafficking people to.”

“And what makes you think they won’t just shoot you right there in his office, huh?” Jack states sternly.

“Well, for starters, there’s too many windows, so unless the potential partners in his board room already know what really goes on in this company, I don’t think they’d be too happy about watching someone get shot next door. That means they’ll have to at least move me outside the building.”

Jack shakes his head, kneading his eye sockets as he states to himself how ‘this kid’ll be the death of me’. “Mac, listen. We don’t have the resources to support you here. If you go dark before we find you, we might never be able to.”

Before Mac can respond, the door behind him opens. A man walks past Mac, past the desk, and stops at the windows. The second guard joins the first outside the door. There’s a pause as the man leans on the wide floor-to-ceiling windows of the office. He lets out a long breath, drawing the drive from his pocket.

“You know,” he begins as he twirls the drive in his hand, “rats like you are usually too afraid to try and steal our cheese.”

Mac immediately puts on an act, “This is all just a big misunderstanding, I swear. Your company is a huge lighthouse in the vast sea of agricultural technology, I just think it should be shared how you accomplish such feats worldwide.” Mac stares at him innocently and continues as the man turns, making his way over.

“You guys deserve to be world renown, the scientific breakthroughs your company has made could save so much more if your findings were open sourced!”

The man sits on the edge of his desk, “That is quite the idealistic view you have there mister…”

“Donovan,” Mac lies.

“Mister Donovan. My name is Kruz Schultz. I’m the founder and owner of Overgrowth, but I’m sure you already knew that.”

“Riley I don’t like this guy, he makes the hair on my neck stand up. How’re we gonna get Mac out of there?”

“Yeah this guy is giving me the creeps too Jack. I’m trying to hack into the building to see if I can mess with their security but...their technology is super high tech, even if I was plugged directly into the server I might not make it in time.”

Suddenly the screen next to Riley starts beeping, “They’re trying to access Mac’s information.”

Back on the eighth floor, Kruz sets the drive on his desk piece by piece in direct view of Mac. With each piece he sets down he emphasizes his words, “You know. This is some very dark web hacking technology. Something you probably wouldn’t see on a free-world fighter.”

“I could say the same about yours. Why would a company wanting to end world hunger need such advanced security on their network?” More of a statement than a question.

The man smiled, crossing his arms as he shrugged. “If I didn’t take such precautions people like you would steal my work.”

The atmosphere in the room is heavy, both men know the other knows more than they’re letting on.

In a flash the CEO is suddenly towering over Mac. He crushes his tied wrist in one hand, and grips his jaw tightly with the other as he leans in close to Mac’s face. Mac’s smile quickly disappears as he struggles against the intense force of the man’s grip, a flicker of fear appearing in Mac’s eyes.

“I do not care who you are or what your intentions are,” the man growls, “you stole one of my employees keycards, snuck into an unauthorized floor, and hacked into my servers. You’re in over your head _boy_.”

There’s a knock on the door.

Kruz roughly releases Mac’s face as he straightens up, jerking his head at the guards who quickly appears next to the CEO. The guard hands Mac’s ID to Kruz as he whispers in his ear. Kruz waves him out as he looks it over.

“So, Mister Donovan,” Kruz walks behind his desk, opening one of the drawers as he talks, “it’s unfortunate you haven’t accomplished much in your life. No one’s going to miss a nobody like you.” He throws Mac’s ID into it before motioning to the guards who quickly appear on either side of Mac.

Kruz walks over the the three of them as the two guards force Mac before zip tying him. Kruz looks Mac over as he straightens his suit.

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones.” Kruz smiles before gripping Mac’s shoulder, “Remember which one you are Mister Donovan.”

The guards escort Mac back to the elevators, keeping a tight grip as one of them pushes the button for the sublevel. The other one swipes a key card on the reader, forcing the elevator to bypass all other levels. After a few seconds both guards take their guns in hand. One releases their grip on Mac as they radio someone in Arabic.

Back in the van Riley’s software translates what the guard says in almost real time. “They’re going to transport him to the docks.” Riley turns to Jack. “Should we intercept them or wait until they get to the docks?”

The elevator reaches the sublevel garage as Jack thinks. “As much as I want to get Mac outta there…”

Riley locks eyes with Jack, finishing his thought, “We could save thousands if we knew where they were shipping out from.” Riley turns back towards her screen, watching Mac as he’s pushed out of the elevator and into the parking garage.

“Mac knows what he’s getting into. He can take care of himself.” Jack is unsure if Riley's trying to reassure him, herself, or the both of them but he doesn’t question her.


	2. Ship Yard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team struggles to find Mac in the shipping yard.

One of the men pulls out his radio. He’s still speaking Arabic but considering the three of them were just awkwardly standing in the parking garage, Mac could guess that they’re waiting for a vehicle.

The second man, still having a tight grip on Mac’s arm, tells him to put his hands up as he turns Mac to face him. Mac complies, paying mind to any openings he might have to escape. As the guard pats Mac down, he hears Jack in his ear.

“Mac you just say the word and we’ll pull you out buddy. No questions asked.”

As much as Mac appreciates it, he knows he can’t leave now. There wasn’t enough evidence in the files that were uploaded to Riley’s computer, and there’s no way that Kruz would talk. He’s probably moving or deleting any incriminating files on his server right now. Even if they bluffed, Mac doubted Kruz was the sort of man to fall for such threats, especially with nothing to show. No, the only way they’d catch him now is if they proved Overgrowth was illegally shipping humans overseas. _Then again we’d have enough evidence if one of these guys turned on Kruz, or if they killed me._

Mac grimaced at that thought.

“Hey, am I going to get that back? I still have a coupon for one free sandwich at Jimmy’s.”

The guard looked up at Mac, clearly irritated as he took Mac’s wallet and cellphone. “Shutup.”

The second guard turned towards the two of them, looking at Mac as he puts up his radio. “Where you’re going you won’t need such things.”

This causes the other guard to chuckle. Mac turns back only to see the guard’s gun connect with his face. He falls. His glasses land cracked beside him. Mac’s vision is blotchy and his ears ring. He can feel an intense pressure on his back as the same guard presses down with his knee.

Back in the van Riley and Jack watch the guard roughly zip tie Mac’s hands together. Jack mutters ‘come on Mac’ to himself.

A dark blue van rolls up. The guard opens the back doors, allowing the other to pull a half conscious Mac into it.

“Son of a bitch-” Jack throws off his headphones, “I’m sorry Riley, I gotta pull him out.”

Riley only has enough time to say “Jack wait” before he’s up and out, running full speed towards the back of the building.

“Riley we don’t even know that they aren’t planning on dumping his body in a gutter somewhere!”

Jack gets to the entrance in time to watch the blue van fly over the speed bumps and exit, tires squealing. Jack stands in front, pulling his gun out in time to shoot through the windshield, missing the driver. Before Jack can get a second shot off, the van speeds towards him. Jack swivels out of the way, the van clipping his arm. Jack lies on the ground, cupping his arm as he hears Riley’s worried voice call his name. Soon after he sees their own van pull up, and Riley swing the side door open.

“Come on, they’re heading towards the coast!”

Looking Riley over, Jack jumps in, “You should scoot over, I can drive faster.”

“Are you trying to say that we’ll lose them if I drive?”

“No, I just-” Before Jack has time to finish Riley steps on the gas, causing Jack to be knocked back against the door.

“If you wanted to drive then you shouldn’t have ran off and busted up your arm. Now shut up and tell me where they’re headed.”

Jack, wide eyed, puts his hands up. “Damn, woman. Alright.”  He looks over the screen as he puts his headphones back on. “Riles they’re turning onto East Ave.”

The two follow the van for several blocks before finally stopping at the marine side shipping port. They park just outside. Riley grabs her laptop as Jack jumps out of the van, joining him at the entrance.

“Where’s our boy Riles?”

Riley opens up her laptop, attempting to help narrow down Mac’s location. “Jack, this place is too big for the two of us to search alone.”

Jack stops a moment and rubs the top of his head. “Yeah alright,” He skips ahead turning back to point at Riley, “call Maddie and update her, but I ain’t waiting for backup. Mac could be long gone by then.”

Riley sighs, pulling out her cell as she follows Jack, and Mac’s signal.

Mac wakes up to muffled voices and the smell of smoke. As his vision clears he sees the two guards from before. One of them is burning what Mac assumes is the remains of his wallet and cell. The other is talking impatiently with one of the port workers. Mac quietly looks around the back of the van for anything of use. _Shit_ . This is one of those rare moments where there’s nothing. The van’s interior is completely gutted, save for large plastic sheets that are drilled into the car. _So much for sawing through these zip ties_ ... _Makes it easier to clean up evidence I suppose_. Mac turns around to see the guard who was previously burning his belongings walking towards him. He pulls him up and out of the van as the port worker whistles to another in the office behind him. The other worker emerges from the office and throws the man a log book before returning. The worker holds the book as the guard writes down something before looking at his watch.

The guard speaks to the other in his native tongue, motioning him ahead. The guard then nods to the worker who leaves, then follows. They walk down several rows of cargo containers before stopping at an old rusted red one. The guard checks the crate number and then their watch. He stares at it for a few seconds before turning back to the other and nods. Before Mac has time to question what they were waiting for, a harsh siren starts ringing out across the port. A voice joins the repeating noise as it states that this is a safety drill. The guard turns back and nods to the other guard as he opens the door. The second guard releases Mac, pulling his gun out before shoving him inside. Mac is met with the faces of several terrified people. As Mac steps inside they all scream out, rushing towards the exit. Their screams only to be drowned by the port’s sirens. The last remaining light dies out as the door shuts, along with any hope the rest of them had.

Jack stops at the next container, knocking his gun against it. He calls out Mac’s name before putting his head up to the container, listening for a response. “Riley this is gonna take too long. You sure you can’t narrow down his location?”

Riley puts her free hand up in resignation, “If I had visuals to go on or a stronger signal I could-” Riley is cut off by the sudden sound of the siren.

“What the hell is that?” Jack yells to Riley as they both cover their ears. Soon the question is answered when a voice comes over the intercom, indicating the safety drill. After about a minute the siren ends, leaving them both with ringing ears.

Jack readies his weapon as he bounds over the the next row of containers. “Anybody else think that was an oddly timed safety drill?”

Riley suddenly stops, refreshing her screen madly. “Wait, Jack. Mac’s com just went offline.”

Jack turns, “Whaddya mean he disappeared Riley.”

“It’s possible they found his earpiece,” Riley turns her laptop so Jack can see. “This is the last location it was receiving from.” Her monitor shows a white blinking dot in the middle of the shipping yard, surrounded by a dozen tightly packed bays.

Jack exaggerates his movements, exasperated. “Ri we’ve gotta narrow that down somehow, there’s probably 10,000 of these puppies around!”

Riley looks at Jack and shakes her head, at a loss. “We...could maybe try and find the logs.” She clears her throat as Jack grunts, kicking the nearest container. “They have to keep track of their shipment and profit in the yard right? Keep track of who goes where? They could have a copy here somewhere.”

Jack nods his head, calling back as he rounds one of the rows. “That’s good, there’s no way we can get through all of these without tactical-” Jack stops abruptly, coming to an opening in the yard, in front of him is the main office, and the two guards from before. They’re walking back to the van, where the driver still sits. Jack’s blood pumps in his ears. No Mac.

Riley calls after Jack as he runs full speed for the guard rounding the van. He throws him into the back as he’s shutting the van door, jumping in after him. He slams the guards head down onto the floor, the sound reverberates sickly. Before the driver has time to pull out his gun, Jack’s is on him, elbowing him in the face as he shoots at the second guard outside through the windshield. Jack clips him and he falls, crying out. Jack turns his attention back at the driver who started moving for his gun.

“Ah, ah, ah. This time I won’t miss.” The driver calculates the risk for a moment, sweat building on his head. “Hands on the steering wheel.” The driver puts his hands on the wheels, only to grab Jack’s gun as he tries to pull out zip ties. The two struggle for a bit, the gun going off twice in the roof before Jack manages to turn it back at the driver who slumps in the seat. Jack sighs, it would have been better to have all three of them alive to interrogate but he would have to make do with two.

Jack drags the guard in the back of the van out and next to the second guard. “Well, well. Somebody's on top of things.” Jack smirks at Riley, who already had the guard Jack shot tied.

“Can’t let you have all the fun Jack.” She tightens the rope with her last word, causing a painful outburst from the guard. “Oh I’m sorry, did that hurt?” The guard cries out again as she jerks the rope tighter. He turns back and spits at her, yelling incoherently to the English speakers.

Jack throws the unconscious guard down, tying him up as well. “I don’t know what he said but I’d guess he does not like you.”

Riley spots the office behind them. “Hey Jack, their records might be in there. I’m sure you can take care of yourself out here so I’m gonna go ahead browse their files.”

Jack nods, grabbing a nearby folding chair and propping the conscious guard up in it. He grabs the guard’s neck and pulls him in real close. “Alright. Before things get real nice and messy I’m gonna give you a chance to tell me where you took that scrawny kid to.”

Jack turns back when he hears Riley call his name, she’s knelt looking over something on the ground. The charred remains of Mac’s phone and wallet. Riley’s looking up at Jack, worry in her eyes. Jack turns as he hears the guard laughing. Jack hotly asks him what’s so funny, to which the guard smiles and says,

“Where he’s going, he won’t need those.”

That’s all it took. Jack gets him in the jaw, almost knocking the chair onto the ground. Jack catches it before it does, and the guard turns back around to face Jack, mouth full of blood.

“Schultz is gonna see exactly who’ll miss Mac when the hand of God rains down on his ass. Now tell me where he is. _Where’s Mac?_ ”

From the office Riley can hear each impact of Jack’s fist on the guard’s body. Every moment of silence followed by a chorus of grunts and smacks. The computers in the office weren’t well protected, and nothing on the surface showed anything out of the ordinary. Riley leaned back in the chair, taking in the piles of paper filling the office. After a deep sigh, Riley makes her way through them, looking for anything that resembles what they pulled off of the server at Overgrowth. Later, Riley realizes she can’t hear Jack anymore and peaks out the window. Even from here Riley can hear Maddie's commanding voice barking orders at tactical.

“I want every worker accounted for, every departing ship stopped, and for every ship that isn’t docked I want to know exactly where they’re headed. _Now!”_

Once Riley collects all the logs from the last 24 hours, she joins them, overhearing the last bit of their conversation. Jack is sitting on a stool by the van, shaking his head.

“Mac’s a big boy Jack. He’ll be fine.” Maddie continues after Jack gives a half-hearted agreement, “In the meantime tactical is sweeping every crate that we can, and waiting on search warrants for the rest.”

Jack skips a rock across the dirt, “Maddie he could be half way across the globe by then if he doesn’t run out of oxygen first.” Once he notices Riley, he perks up. The man Jack was interrogating earlier is still tied to the chair, unconscious and bloody. Riley’s heart sinks further when she realizes they don’t have any leads yet either.

“Jack, I’m sorry. Once I get all the files back to the lab and sorted I might be able to pick up a pattern but until then all I have is the log from today.”

Jack picks up another rock, “And even with those, there’s no guarantee that they’re the correct numbers, or that they even signed the log in the first place.” He throws the other rock before standing up and placing a hand on Riley’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault Riley, it was my job to watch Mac’s back. I know you’re doing everything you can.”

Riley attempts a smile, but falls short. Their moment interrupted by Maddie, barking orders.

“Alright let’s pack up everything and get back,” she turns to a squad on her left, “round up the workers present, we got a lot of interrogating to do.” Maddie turns back to the rest and nods to Jack. “Everyone I haven't already assigned work to, take Riley’s logs from the last hour and we’ll work back from there.”

Now back at the briefing room, Riley finds herself surrounded by spread out files. She’s typing away at two of her computers that are set in front, and a large assortment of information, locations, and photographs clutter the large room monitor. Startled, Riley looks up to see an exhausted Jack knocking on the door frame.

“Any luck?” Riley knows the answer but can’t help but ask. Jack shakes his head and maneuvers his way to her. Jack drops a pizza on the low table next to them and sits.

“I know finding Mac is our top priority but you still gotta eat.”

Riley purses her lips, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“Riley you’ve been in here for days. You gotta take a break-”

“Not until I can figure out which ship Mac’s on.”

Jack takes Riley’s hands in his own, forcing her to stop typing. “Riley. I picked up your favorite pizza. God knows why anyone would spoil good pizza with Alfredo sauce but that’s not the point. If you burn out now you’re not going to be any use to Mac when we do find him.”

Jack looks pointedly with his eyes, making it clear that he doesn’t plan on leaving until Riley complies. And after the aroma of fresh pizza makes its way over, she does.

Riley sits by Jack, grabbing a piece of pizza. “I don’t like it.”

Jack looks at her, offended.

“Not the pizza, Jack, the fact that our only chance of finding Mac now is to find the ship he’s on.” The last several days the team worked hard cracking the logs, searching the shipyard, and interrogating the workers. Although they had more evidence against Kruz and Overgrowth, there was still nothing hard enough to arrest him. The team had searched every cargo container in the yard. Even with the manpower, took several days thanks to the dense metal containers blocking any heat signatures. There were three cargo ships that departed from the bay that day. So far one of them had landed, not too far, but after a thorough search held nothing but Overgrowth agricultural starter kits.

“There are two ships left. The problem was they’re going to two different countries. One to Syria, and one to Africa.”

“Maddies talked to an agency in Africa," Jack adds, "they've agreed to keep a look out at the docks but, we don't have enough authority in Syria. If Mac's headed there...” 

“We won't have the manpower to take a team and search the shipments there.”

“Once Mac lands, he could disappear.” Jack shakes his head, “I know Mac’s a genius but he’s still just one guy. I don’t know what I’d do if…”

Riley places a hand on Jack’s shoulder, “I know Jack.” She glances up at the monitor, still showing ‘signal lost’ on Mac’s com. “For now all we can do is wait.”


	3. Water Jug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who saw the update the last few weeks know I've been dealing with some hard stuff lately. Thank you for waiting patiently, we're just a chapter away from the beginning of the climax.

Mac awakes to his head knocking against the metal panelling, the sound of a horn and coughing filling his ears. He looks around at the dirty faces of the other captives, catching the expression of fear when light filters through the holes in the container. A few are huddled in comfort, another mutters prayers in the corner, and the remaining lie still on the hard crate floor. Mac worries for a minute that one might be dead before they shift a bit. He turns to the water jug in the back of the cargo crate, leaning over to examine it. Just a measly few droplets left. He sighs before setting it back down. Although Mac knows what he’ll see, he looks out one of the many peep holes in the container. They’re still surrounded by other shipping containers, blocking any view of the ship or sea. A few times they heard shipmates talking nearby, but whenever someone would cry out for help, they either didn’t hear or didn’t care. _It’d make sense if they were also in Kruz’s pocket, someone would have to make sure the packages got there properly._ Mac is unsure exactly how long they’d been at sea but he’d guess that it was almost a week.

Mac stumbles to the ground with a grunt, too weak to catch himself as a particularly rough wave hits the ship. _A few more days and a lot of these people will die._ Mac worries that the ones already down might soon be too malnourished to save. The first few days were manageable. There was plenty of water, and everyone was healthy enough to have their bodies burn stored energy. Soon they wasted that energy trying to escape. Their nights were filled with clanging on the container and screams as they tried to find a weak spot in the metal lining. People’s voices were hoarse from shouting. Now their bodies were beginning to break down muscle and fat to keep from starving. People resigned once they figured out they were never going to escape.

During this period people resorted to talking to each other. Mac was unsure if these people actually cared, or if they just wanted a distraction from the threat of the unknown. The people tried to make sense of why this was happening to them. At first Mac thought that they all were taken because of a debt that needed to be paid to Kruz. After a few people shared their stories, Mac realized that not all of them were connected to Overgrowth. In fact a few of them had never heard of it. Mac then concluded that the shipping yard might have been a location not just for a Overgrowth’s human trafficking group, but maybe Overgrowth also outsourced they’re “talent.” Without proof, speculation was just shots in the dark. Mac thought about telling them all the truth about him and the Phoenix Foundation, but he decided to remain cautious. He still didn’t know what was waiting for them when they anchored. The less they knew, the less their enemy would know and the safer they all would be.

Mac was pulled out of a daze by a sudden jerk of the container. The people that could, sat up, surprised. It soon happened again, accompanied by grunting outside. The people began to yell when the container suddenly rolled down a slant, stopping abruptly. The people were knocked towards the front of the cargo container. The container was then heaved by several men who evened out the container, placing it on what could only be some sort of platform or bed. Whatever it was had an engine and began moving them along at a fast pace. Mac figured that they were possibly in the desert in the middle east. The amount of time it took to get here, the smooth sandy trek, the beating sun, and the arabian sounding men clueing Mac in on their new location. Mac watched through the small air holes as men tied a tarp over the container, blocking the heat from boiling them inside. _If only Jack was here to sum up our situation in a movie reference._

It didn’t take long for them to stop again, this time Mac noticed several more men yelling and shuffling outside. He heard a large clack followed by the screeching of the container doors. Mac reeled back as the light from outside blinded him. Before he had time to adjust his eyes to the sun, a man pulled him out. Mac landed clumsily on the sandy ground, taken off guard by the difference in height from the truck bed and the ground.

Several men stood around him as they pulled out the people one by one. They were forced at gunpoint to stand beside each other in a line. One of the women who was too weak to stand collapsed when she was pulled out. Mac cried out as the man smacked her with the butt of his gun in response. Another of the men grabbed the man before any more damage could be done, berating him. The two men then dragged the woman to a spot in line. There were twelve of them total.

A man in white woven clothes and a darkly colored shemagh stepped in front of them. He was an older man with a long black beard and a cold expression. Now that Mac’s eyes had adjusted he could see the various men surrounding them, all armed with automatic rifles and wearing military grade vests. Mac couldn’t see any identifying traits on the group, no emblems or flags. Their faces were wrapped in cloth face coverings, protection against the harsh sun and sand.

There was a small encampment in front of them with several military grade jeep transporters. Mac spotted a military radio on a table under one of the tents. Mac wrestled with his morals as he realized the risk he would have to take to carry out the mission...even if it but the people he was with in immediate danger? _If Jack and Riley don’t find us, these people will never go home, and even more people would be taken._ If the people had any sort of training this would be different. They’d know how to take care of themselves without Mac watching their back. But these were civilians.

Mac is forced to take his eyes off the radio as the man in the shemagh yells at the surrounding men. The men behind them step up to each of them and pull out metal detectors. _Guess they can never be too careful._ But that leaves Mac with a problem. Dead or not his communicator will be found. He was hoping that it would be his ticket to Jack and Riley finding him but he hadn’t heard from them since they were at Overgrowth. He tried examining it during his week at sea but without the proper tools and lighting he’d end up breaking it while trying to figure out if it was even broken. Each of the people are forced to give up any remaining items they carry as well as any belts and shoes. Mac very carefully steps down to take off his shoes, slipping out his ear com in the process.  With his com in hand, Mac takes off his belt, palming the com inside the buckle. Ensuring that the detector would go off for good reason. One of the men takes Mac’s items while the other moves the metal wand over his body. The man then nods to the one in the white robes who shouts in response before motioning to a jeep on the right.

The guard grabs Mac’s arm, roughly pulling him towards it.Mac looks back to see several of the others being motioned to the other jeeps. _Crap. They’re splitting us up._ Mac turns to the armed man.

“Where are we being taken to?” The man roughly shoves Mac into the back of the jeep before handcuffing him the the seat. As Mac watches the rest of the people be ushered to the remaining jeeps, he tries to remind himself that he can’t save them right now. He has to find a way to get to his team. Only then will he be able to get everyone back home safely.

* * *

 "Maddy what’s so dang urgent that you’d call us in at,” Jack glances at his phone, “2am?”

Riley swivels back from her seat to look at Jack at the doorway. “It’s Mac.”

This gets Jack’s full attention. As Jack makes his way into the room Riley explains that his signal had come back on.

“The satellite caught his location almost immediately, and I managed to get a pretty accurate coordinates for it.”

Maddie motions to Riley to put up the information on the big screen. “He ended up in Syria. Thankfully he’s not too far in.”

Jack looks at the blip on the map. “How long has he been there?”

Riley glances at Maddie, who takes up the answer. “It’s been at least an hour. Which is already too long. You guys are to head to the jet immediately and go bring our boy back home.”

Jack points at Riley as she scrambles to get all her gear. "You better tell me the second Mac’s signal moves. I want you watching it like a hawk.” Riley nods as they depart.

Now that they had more feasible location for Mac, it felt like they were on the clock. No matter how badly they wanted to get there the plane could only go so fast. It would still take several hours to land in Syria and Jack could feel every second of it.

After a few hours Jack began to get antsy. Riley watched Jack’s leg bounce up-and-down in anticipation. He’d glance out the window, or ask Riley to update him on Mac’s location. Soon Riley couldn’t take it anymore and attempted to calm him.

“You know Jack, Mac is a big boy. I’m sure he can handle himself until we get there.”

Jack pursed his lips, “I know that. He's probably already MacGyver his way out of the situation and is probably fixing up some plane made of a cardboard and a waterpump to fly back to us with."

Riley let out a small chuckle. “That does sound like him.”

Jack nodded his head in the direction of Riley's laptop, “How's the signal?”

Riley sighed, furrowing her brows “It's still hasn't moved Jack.”

It had been several hours since the signal came back up, and the fact that the location had not changed since then left and uneasy pit in Jack's stomach.


End file.
